"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses."
Alphonse Kerr

Ps 91 (NKJV)

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the perilous pestilence.4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Interview with Carla Olson Gade

Today I have the awesome privilege of welcoming Carla Olson Gade to my blog. Welcome Carla.

Tell us about a typical day in
your house.

There’s nothing typical in my house! I live in
Maine with my husband who’s off to work by 6:30 am. Our two sons are young
adults, so I have lots of time to spend on my writing and writing activities.
I’m a night owl, so I’m often up late doing research and working on my
novels. Though I don’t watch much TV, on
Monday nights you’ll find me watching Castle. :-)

Lots of time to write sounds heavenly. When did you first begin
writing?

I’ve been writing
since I was a child and still have a story I penned in sixth grade. Over twenty years ago I had aspirations of
getting published. At that time I wrote articles, devotionals, and stories for
my children. For the past 12 or so years I’ve been writing inspirational
historical fiction “stories” and began my pursuit to learn the craft of writing
for publication and preparing to be an author.

What is the coolest, wackiest,
or riskiest thing you’ve ever done?

I think I’d have to say the 2 week road trip I
took with my mother last summer. We went drove half way across the country to a
family wedding and decided to make it a grand adventure to celebrate our
forthcoming “big” birthdays. She was turning 70 and I was turning 50. It was an
amazing time traveling from Maine to Ohio and back again. I did a lot of
research, especially during our stay at Colonial Williamsburg.

How exciting to be able to take a trip like that with your mother. I love Williamsburg. I've been there many times. Tell us about your latest book.

The Shadow Catcher’s Daughter is my debut novel,
released through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents line. It’s set in Colorado & New
Mexico in 1875. Eliana Van Horn aims to make her mark by joining her father as
his photography assistant on an expedition to survey and document the placement
of a marker at the intersection of four southwest boundaries. Living in the
shadows of his native heritage, a half-Navajo guide, Yiska Wilcox, is thrown
off course when The Shadow Catcher’s Daughter opens up the uncharted territory
of his heart. As they travel through dangerous terrain in New Mexico and
overcome barriers of culture, faith, ideals, and secrets that they both keep,
they at last discover common ground and stake a chance on love.

Sounds wonderful. What inspired you to write this
story?

The concept was
presented to me for the historical series Love in Four Corners by Darlene
Franklin. She invited me and Susan Page
Davis for this series, each of us setting our novel in a different time period
relating to the Four Corners Monument at the intersection of Utah, Colorado,
New Mexico, and Arizona. The Shadow Catcher’s Daughter is first in the
series as it takes place during one of the earliest surveys. When I did my
research, I became fascinated with the idea of my characters joining a survey expedition,
fictitiously of course, though the survey is an historical event. I appointed Yiska as the guide and Eliana as
a photography assistant. By the way, shadow catcher is what Native Americans
called photographers, thus the title!

Do you have any other books coming up?

My next book is my
novella Carving a Future in Colonial Courtships (Barbour) coming out in
October. It’s set in 18th century New
England along the Connecticut River where a ship’s figurehead carver rescues an
indentured servant from her imminent demise. She works at his family’s inn and
he will carve her likeness into a figurehead. Very romantic stuff in a time
period I adore. In fact, I’m currently
writing a novel set in colonial Boston for Abingdon’s Quilts of Love series called Pattern
forRomance which will release in
June 2013.

Wow. It's a good thing you have all that time to write. You're a busy lady. How can we find you on the
internet?

Okay, readers, Carla has graciously offered to give away a copy of The Shadow Catcher's Daughter to one lucky person who leaves a comment, but we must have 10 comments. Feel free to tell your friends and post on Facebook, or elsewhere.

Be sure to leave your e-mail (your address[at]provider[dot]com) so I can notify you if you win.

Such a grand time, Carrie. We both loved meeting you, you're the best hostess ever. And I agree with Deb, you should get paid from CW for your PR work, a least give you a free lifetime membership! Thanks for stopping by!

Hi Carla! Oh, how I envy your time to spend writing, but I'm thankful you can (enjoy it for me, too, please!). I agree re: Castle since it's one of the few TV shows I watch. You and I have many things in common, it seems. I loved the description of your book about how she opened the uncharted territory of his heart. That's terrific! Congrats on your writing success, now and in the future. Many blessings to you. I'd love to win your book! I'm at jdurgin9587@att.net.

Hi, Carla. Congratulations on your debut. The book sounds wonderful. And like so many others, I wish I had as much time to write as you do. Actually, what I really need is more discipline to write in the time I have.